South Side brawl breaks leg of Pittsburgh cop in charge of district's anti-crime efforts

The Pittsburgh police sergeant who heads an anti-crime patrol in the South Side’s entertainment district suffered a gruesome leg injury early Saturday during a chaotic confrontation with a violent crowd outside a bar that led to one arrest.

Surveillance video shows a surging group of people scuffling along a sidewalk with Sgt. Andrew Robinson, who was in uniform and working his 10-hour overnight shift. He was pushed into an alcove in the 1500 block of East Carson Street around 1 a.m.

Robinson, 36, ended up on the ground. Somehow his right foot became twisted 90 degrees to a grotesquely unnatural position, breaking bones in his leg and foot.

Several people, including a man in a shirt marked “Security,” dragged Robinson and the person who was fighting him back onto the East Carson Street sidewalk amid groups of onlookers.

Soon other police officers rushed in even as Robinson, unable to stand, spun around on the ground, trying to keep his grip on the man who would soon be charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

Police identified the person arrested as Jonathan Morin of Carrick, who turned 23 on Friday.

“I don’t know if I was stomped on. I don’t know if I dodged a punch and stepped on uneven concrete,” Robinson told TribLive Monday. “I knew I was injured. And the suspect was still coming at me. So, the only thing I could do was take him to the ground … I wasn’t going to let go until he was in custody.”

The incident came as a glaring black eye to efforts to tamp down unruly behavior in one of the city’s premier entertainment districts, which has struggled to bounce back from boorish behavior by patrons and quality-of-life crimes that had become increasingly violent.

In June, TribLive featured Robinson and the officers working the South Side entertainment patrol in a story about efforts to burnish the area’s tattered reputation.

It had been working, according to police, politicians, business owners and residents. A shooting hasn’t been reported in South Side since October, Robinson has said.

Unafraid of police

The fight started when Robinson and an officer from the Allegheny County Housing Authority were dealing with someone outside Oddball’s Bar at 1505 East Carson St., according to a criminal complaint.

Morin approached the two and pulled the housing authority officer’s vest from behind, the complaint said. A scuffle began.

Surveillance video shows Robinson and another officer entering the bar. Seconds later, a man is ejected from the premises as several other cops wait outside. The patron fights with police, who hustle him down East Carson Street.

Another man appears to be pushed out of the bar. He falls into a temporary railing, knocking it over, before getting up and moving down the street along with a small group. Robinson calmly walks behind, speaking into his shoulder radio.

Something happens off camera that prompts Robinson to push a young woman forcefully out of his way and reach for the face of the second man who left the bar. The crowd of about a half-dozen men and women begins scuffling with Robinson.

Several arms dart toward Robinson’s throat. Then, Robinson spins to his right as he is propelled into an alcove of a neighboring business.

The man in a neon-yellow T-shirt marked “Security” reaches into the alcove in an apparent move to grab Robinson. The next time the camera catches the sergeant, he is on the ground, his foot bent in the wrong direction.

“I think there’s just some highly intoxicated people who were mad they were escorted out of the bar. There was some pushing and shoving … I’m not 100% sure [how it happened],” Robinson said.

Despite the injury, Robinson continues to try to subdue men fighting in the crowd. At one point, a white van traveling down Carson nearly strikes onlookers and people trying to break up the scuffle who stepped into the street.

“You can see in the video that the officer’s foot is facing the wrong direction — but he’s still trying to hang onto the suspect,” said John Caputo, whose South Side Barbershop surveillance cameras captured the fight.

“This new generation [is] not afraid of confrontation with the police,” he added. “They are taking over.”

‘Sad mark for society’

Police said Morin tried to punch Robinson and Officer Jihoon Baek multiple times. A police officer punched Morin at least once with a closed fist, the complaint said.

At one point, officers forced Morin down to the sidewalk, video surveillance showed. Police said Morin, then on his back, still was “actively resisting” and attempting to grab an officer’s arms.

Robinson, who appears unable to stand, continued to grapple with Morin.

Other officers soon poured onto the scene to control “the large, hostile and unruly crowd” that was forming, the complaint said. Robinson said no one else was injured in the melee.

Paramedics took Robinson to UPMC Mercy hospital. He said doctors set his foot there early Saturday and he was released by 5 a.m.

Robinson is set to undergo surgery Wednesday. Robinson’s shin bone and at least three bones in his right foot were broken.

Recovery from the surgery will take six to 12 months, he said. Robinson’s unsure how long he will be off-duty.

“Any time you attack a police officer in full uniform, it’s a sad mark for society,” Robert Swartzwelder, the police union president, said.

Still optimistic

Pittsburgh police Chief Larry Scirotto didn’t respond on Monday to phone calls or emails seeking comment.

Scirotto previously served with the sergeant when Robinson joined the city’s Zone 3 station, which patrols the South Side, after graduating from police academy in 2011.

John DeMauro, the South Side resident who opened Urban Tap on East Carson Street in 2013, said on Monday that he needed more information before judging if what happened speaks to larger issues in his neighborhood.

“I’m not going to sugar-coat it: someone got hurt,” DeMauro said. “It’s definitely not the same old South Side because there’s not a shooting every other weekend … But we need to continue to progress. And businesses need to do their part, too.”

Pittsburgh police’s entertainment patrol, which was formed in July 2023 to fight incidents such as this, has made more than 190 arrests and 1,240 non-traffic citations since it started focusing last year on the East Carson Street business district, according to the police blotter. Robinson led the weekend patrols.

There have been nearly 580 traffic stops and police have towed 628 cars and recovered 64 guns, the blotter said.

DeMauro said the South Side Hospitality Partnership, a group of South Side business owners and other stakeholders, plans to release a group statement this week about the incident.

Morin was taken early Saturday to the Allegheny County Jail, where he posted $1,000 cash bond a day later. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 18.

Morin did not respond Monday to phone calls seeking comment. His attorney was not listed in court records.

Meanwhile, Robinson is home awaiting surgery.

It’s not the first time an on-duty injury sidelined him. In 2016, a pane of glass shattered while he was apprehending a juvenile suspect in Pittsburgh’s Knoxville neighborhood.

He got 30 stitches in his arm. He was back at work in two weeks.

“I’m hoping for a quick and full recovery and to get back on the street patrolling South Side,” Robinson said.

“I believe it’s headed in the right direction … I still think the South Side, despite this injury, is a good place to go down and have a few drinks with your buddies — responsibly, that is.”